How to fix 10 Moto G problems: the solutions that work

The Moto G is a great smartphone and packs a big punch for a very reasonable price. But like all electronics, sometimes there are some issues that pop up in different scenarios. Today, we’ve compiled the top ten most common errors for this mid-range Motorola smartphone and present some solutions.

 © AndroidPIT

Lockups and Reboots

One of the most common complaints with the Moto G is that the screen will freeze from time to time and that the phone will restart randomly, sometimes even when the screen is off and the device is locked. This may be due to a specific application, network issues, or other contributing factors. To temporarily fix this, you can try doing a soft reboot on the device by holding the power button for a few seconds.

If you’re looking for a more permanent solution, try the following:

Start the Moto G in safe mode (when you restart and see the logo, hold the menu button down until you see the lock screen). You will see a Safe Mode label on the screen if you’re successful.  If your phone works in this mode, then you can troubleshoot it to an issue with a particular application. You could try to figure out which application it is, or start from scratch. The former is a bit more time consuming and will require trial and error. The latter, you can do with a simple factory reset by heading to Settings > Backup and Restore> Factory Data Reset.

© AndroidPIT

Battery issues

With the Moto G, it is possible for the battery to become a little wonky if it hasn’t been calibrated properly. A way to identify if this is happening to you is keeping an eye on the battery percentage in the status bar: if you notice it’s jumping around, say from 50% to 1% and back again, you may have this calibration error.

In order to solve this, it’s relatively easy: just let the battery fully discharge and then charge it back fully in one go. Repeat the process one more time and it should disappear as the battery “relearns” its calibration.

SIM not detected

This one is a little tricky, as you can have a SIM card that works for a bit of time and then randomly, say after an hour, the Moto G will no longer recognize it. As such, you’ll be unable to connect to any wireless networks or make any phone calls. This may be because you’re using a Nano SIM Adapter (the Moto G supports only micro SIM) or you might have a damaged SIM card. Try another card and see if that works, if so, you can just ask your carrier for duplicate.

Errors with the camera launching

Some users have reported issues with the camera application failing to launch, notably after upgrading to Android 4.4. KitKat.  One of the quickest and easiest ways to solve this problem is rebooting the Moto G. If this doesn’t solve the issue, go to Settings > Applications > Camera and then choose Force Quit, Clear Data, and Clear Cache.  This solves the majority of the issues with the camera app and should be able to run again.

© AndroidPIT

If you’re still having issues, you may be using a third party application that uses the flash or camera that is causing the problem. You can try closing or uninstalling that particular app and seeing if that works.

LED Notifications not working

Some problems have been showing with the LED in the Moto G not working when users get a SMS, e-mail, etc.  This has been tied to importing data from a Google Account from a previous phone and somewhere, having LED notifications disabled on your previous phone.

The solution is easy to solve, as Motorola has its very own widget to control the LED notifications called Light Notification Widget. If you install it, you’ll be able to enable the LED again, and then you can just remove it and your LEDs should work again.

Notification Light WidgetINSTALL

Unusual Sounds

Another big complaint is that there sounds to be a small sound or vibration when you shake or turn off the phone. Some people attribute it to the haptic feedback, and while it is relatively harmless, can be annoying. As well, it could be a loose button on your device.

An easy solution is to get yourself a case, and besides protecting your Moto G, will reduce the amount of noise from within the device. If you think it’s definitely something that shouldn’t be occurring, make sure to contact your carrier or Motorola as it may be a defect.

Poor sound quality

Considering the price of the device, the sounds that the Moto G can produce are pretty clear. Of course, there may some bugs or issues with it that can be tweaked. In general, because the speakers are on the back of the device, there may be some distortion if not using your headphones to listen to music.

© AndroidPIT

A possible solution is using the equalizer to tweak the sounds to your liking. In order to do this, go toSettings > Sounds > Audio Effects. You can play around with the audio output to the speakers or even to wired headphones.

Problems while charging

Does your Moto G restarts when you’re charging? Does it take forever for the Moto G’s battery to charge when it is plugged in? If so, you most likely have a faulty USB cable. First, try out a new cable that has an output of between 500 mA and 1.5A.

When testing out a new USB cable, try to discharge the device completely and then keep the device turned off for the first 20 minutes of charging. After that time, turn the Moto G on by holding the power button.

Problems sideloading APK files

If you want to install applications that aren’t from the Google Play Store, you must first make sure that you are able to install from Unknown Sources (Settings > Security). With the Moto G, you’ll also need to make sure that you have unchecked the Verify Apps in the same menu. If you’ve done all this, you can sideload APK files without any issues. Also take care when doing this and that you’re installing an APK file from a trusted source.

© AndroidPIT

If you’ve done all this an are still having issues, try to upload the APK file to Google Drive and install it from there. As well, you can try out ES File Explorer and install it from there.

Dropped WiFi connections

The problem with dropped WiFi connections isn’t unique to the Moto G and could be one of many problems: errors when connecting to a route, excessive battery consumption, or intermittent disconnections.  For most of these problems, the solution is simple: turn it off and on again. Restart your Moto G, your router, and clear the data of your saved connections and then re-connect them.

If the problem has to do with the connection always failing, head to WiFi Settings and click the three dots in the corner and choose Advanced Settings.  From there, click the Keep WiFi on during Sleep and make sure the Only when plugged in option is checked off.

You can also reduce your battery drain by turning off the WiFi scanning option.

© AndroidPIT

Are there any other issues you’ve encountered with your Moto G? If so, let us know in the comments and we can help you out!

How to fix a frozen Nexus

If you've soft-bricked your Nexus while tinkering a little too irresponsibly, there's a super easy way to fix it. Assuming your Nexus can still start in Fastboot Mode, you're only a few steps away from unbricking that bad boy. This same process can also be used simply to restore a Nexus device to factory defaults, for example, if you want to resell it.

A soft-bricked Nexus device is easy to fix with official factory images. / © AndroidPIT

Prerequisites

You will be wiping your device's contents with this process, so I'm assuming you're either ok with losing your data in order to get your device functioning again, or, in the more ideal version, you've already done a full backup before you got yourself into this whole pickle. If not, learn your lesson and repeat after me: I will always do a full backup before flashing ROMs or otherwise tweaking my device.

Considering you've got yourself to this point, there's a few other things I think are safe to assume: you have an unlocked bootloader, you already have USB Debugging enabled on your Nexus, and you have the Google USB Driver installed on your computer. You'll also need a USB cable (duh) and have a decent amount of battery on your device, just to be safe.

Make sure you get the right factory image for your device. / © AndroidPIT

How to unbrick a Nexus with official factory image

1. Find the official factory image for your device on the Google Developers Blog. You want to match your year (if you have a Nexus 7) and your device's connectivity (Wi-Fi only, 3G etc). Once you've downloaded the correct zip, extract it.

2. Boot your Nexus in Fastboot/Download Mode. That's Volume Down and Power until you get a vibration and the see the Fastboot Menu. Some devices require Volume Up and Down along with Power.

3. Connect your Nexus to your computer with a USB cable.

When you open the Android 4.4.2 factory image for the Nexus 5, this is what you'll see. / © AndroidPIT

4. Head to the unzipped files on your computer and double click the flash-all.bat file if you have a PC or the flash-all.sh file if you have Linux or a Mac. This will flash the necessary bootloader, firmware etc.

5. Sit back and relax. Sweating bullets is not necessary, just don't unplug anything.

6. Once the process is complete, you'll be back in Fastboot, so use the Volume buttons to get to Recovery Mode, and use the Power button to confirm.

From Fastboot you can access Recovery Mode to factory reset your Nexus. / © AndroidPIT

7. Scroll to Wipe Data/Factory Reset and hit Power to confirm, then Wipe Cache Partition and Dalvik Cache too.

8. Reboot your Nexus. You should now have stock Android running and no problems at all. If you had a Nandroid of your system before the soft brick, you can recover that, or if you had another app and data backup you can restore that instead. You may want to relock your bootloader after this, but it's not necessary. If any of these terms confuse you, check out our root and ROM terminology checklist.

If you're stuck in a bootloop or your device still won't start at all after this process, you may have more serious problems. Check the site for other fixes or head to the forum for hands-on assistance.

How to fix Moto X battery issues

There have been reports of the Moto X battery draining much faster after having used the device for some time. If you’re being affected by this issue and want to try and get back to the same battery capacity you had when you first bought your Moto X, give this little tweak a try.

Is your Moto X battery struggling after a few weeks of use? Here's a quick fix. / © AndroidPIT

Redditor okfnjesse shared this sweet little fix after having browsed around for a solution to his mysterious battery drain issue.  Despite uninstalling apps, doing a factory reset, and other “fixes”, he was unable to solve his battery drain problem until he tried to clear the Cache partition of his Moto X. If you’re having issues with the battery on your Moto X draining faster than it should, particularly after you’ve installed a new software update, give this a try:

• Turn off your Moto X and then press the Volume down and Power button for 2-3 seconds.
• Use the Volume down key to scroll through the options to Recovery and Volume Up  to select.
• The device will display the Motorola logo and then the Android in distress logo will appear.
• Press and hold the Volume up key for 10-15 seconds. While still holding the Volume upkey tap and release the Power key.
• The device will display additional menu options and a bunch of text will appear in blue.
• Use the Volume down to scroll to wipe cache partition and the Power Key to select this option
• The device will then perform the partition wipe
• The device will reboot and start the normal power up sequence

This process will remove any temporary files that may be causing an issue with battery drain, but will not actually remove any files or settings on your device. If you’re noticing a much larger drain on your Moto X battery, definitely give this a try before you go through the hassle of a factory reset.

How to get the latest Facebook UI on your Android device (v.9.0+)

Facebook has the reputation of often changing its user interface. There was a point in time where I kept on getting the settings and features confused, because of constant changes to the UI: new things appeared, while other parts disappeared or where hidden somewhere else. The latest Facebook UI for the Android app under the version number 9.0 (or higher) is out for alpha testers. If you want to get the new UI on your device, here is how you can get it today.

 © AndroidPIT

Thankfully anyone can be an alpha tester, you don’t need to get a special invite, but you do need to know how to get it, which requires a few steps.

• First you want to ensure that you aren’t part of a beta testing group for Facebook. If you are, head to the beta tester Google Group and click on the settings. Here, simply choose to leave the group.
• Now you want to become an alpha tester, which you can do by joining this Google Group. On your internet browser, click on link to the Alpha Tester Group and then choose ‘join group’.
• Ensure that the information on the popup window is correct, like your display name and email address. Choose to join this group.
• Now, as part of the alpha testers group, you will be brought to a welcome page. Follow the instructions to get the new UI.
• Visit this link and click Become a Tester.
• Uninstall the Facebook app on your device by going into the settings of your device, then Manage applications, swipe to All, and scroll down until you find Facebook. Tap on the app and select uninstall.
• Open the Play Store app in your browser and re-install Facebook by choosing Update or Install.
• Turn on automatic updates, because they will be updating alpha multiple times per week.
• Log into Facebook on your phone after installation.

If you don’t see the new UI on your phone, you might just need to go back into the Settings and the Facebook App info page under Applications Manager, and then Clear data.

This was the one way to do it, the method Facebook wants you to follow. You can on the other handsideload the apk, which means you won’t get the updates from the Play Store. Please use this at your own caution.

What do you think of version 9.0 (or higher) version of Facebook? Do you like the new UI or were you content having the old one?

''Hidden'' feature: How to display unread emails only on Gmail

You really can’t get away from using Gmail on your smartphone or tablet, but that being said, the Gmail for Android app still hasn’t received the optimization that we are used to on the web-based version. There is one option that doesn’t exist on the app, which you can use on your computer, that allows you to post only unread messages at the top of the page. Though this function has yet to arrive to Android, here is a workaround to make this happen anyways.

© Google/AndroidPIT

It’s ridiculously simple:

• Tap the magnifying glass on the top left corner of your screen to launch the search function.
• In the search field text box, enter is:unread in:inbox
• Launch the search and there you go! All the unread messages come up first.

To be able to access this faster the next time, you simply need to open the search again and this time choose is:unread in:inbox from the search history. In worst case scenario (especially if you use the search function a lot), you just need to scroll through to find it.

GmailINSTALL

We admit that this solution could be a bit cumbersome, but it suffices for the time being. But honestly, Google should get on top of adding this function to its app or at least creating an equivalent!

How to set up a custom contact list on your Android

No matter what device you own, you're probably still using the stock Contacts app. If you're anything like me, your contacts list is just as messy as your MP3 library, with dozens of unnamed and duplicate entries you'll probably never get around to tidying up. I'll share a couple of simple tips for you here to get your Android contacts looking shiny and new.  

The quickest way to clean up your Contacts app is to add profile pictures for your contacts. / © AndroidPIT

Who gets displayed

This is the quickest and easiest way to make sense of the jumble of contacts in your list. If your contacts are spread across multiple social networks, email accounts and instant messaging services, you've probably got multiple entries for the same person and lots of unused ones as well. If thinking about it logically isn't exactly your cup of tea, just experiment by ditching some lists until you get the mix you like. If you have some no name entries like in the screenshots, just open them to see what service they are associated with.

From the Contacts app, hit the overflow menu and ''Contacts to Display'' to manage your accounts. / © AndroidPIT

If you don't mind thinking about it though, then the best way to approach it is not to think about which services you want listed, but what services you actually want to have direct access to from your Contacts app. So, if you only ever Skype people from within the Skype app – not from your Contacts list – then you can freely uncheck that box. Personally, I tend to use the Contacts app for dialing, WhatsApp and emailing. Depending on how you use your Contacts app, you can be selective about which services to show in your contact list. Perhaps you only need your Google account showing up? It largely depends on where you save your contacts in the first place.

Custom views give you complete control over which services are displayed in your Contacts app. / © AndroidPIT

Merge contacts and choose profile pics

If you've somehow ended up with six different entries for the same person, you can also merge contacts into one. Just go to that particular contact's ''profile'' and hit the action overflow button in the top right. From here hit Edit and then once you're in the contact editor, hit the action overflow again, where you'll find the option to Join. Then, just find all contacts entries for that person and stitch them all together. If a contact is missing a profile picture, you can tap the empty profile square, then again in the popup, then again in the contact entry and finally select from the camera or elsewhere (or you can use an app, mentioned at the bottom of this article).

You can star contacts for quick access and hit the overflow menu to ''Join''  contact entries together. © AndroidPIT

Show your favorites some love!

We all have favorites: moms, girlfriends, BFFs. So if you don't want to have to deal with using the Contacts app for your most frequents, you can star a contact and have their pretty profile picture appear in your dialer, right up there with your most frequently contacted folk. Basically, you want to limit the accounts that show up in your Contacts to the ones you actually access from the app, you want to merge duplicate contacts, delete unused ones (like those for old numbers or psycho exes), and try to be a little organized in future when adding contacts to your Android. Easier said than done!

With custom views, merged entries and profile pics, your contacts will be looking great in no time! / © AndroidPIT

You can also check out our guide to change your contacts' profile pictures or try a good Contact app alternative:

Contacts +INSTALL

How big a mess is your contact list? What's your percentage of pictureless contacts?

How to pin a Facebook Messenger chat shortcut to your homescreen

Don’t think that after widening its domain with WhatsApp that Facebook would forget about improving its other apps. In fact, the company is working continually to improve their own apps, like the Facebook app for Android that just received a new user interface. In the latest Facebook Messenger update, you are now able to create pinned Messenger chats from indiduals and groups and add shortcuts to these on the home screen of your Android device.

 © AndroidPIT

Facebook Messenger group chats make it a lot easier to write a group of people all at once. First you need to ensure that you have the most recent version of Facebook Messenger, which you can do by clicking on the install button below. The recent version added the homescreen shortcuts feature.

Facebook MessengerINSTALL

Once the app has been updated, open the app again and slide to the second ‘Group’ tab. Here it will give you examples of the different types of groups you can add. Tap on Create new group.

This will open a new page where the new group is set up. You can choose a name, add a picture which you can take then and there, choose from your own photo apps or search directly via the app on the bing browser. You will also need to add the people in that group.

© AndroidPIT

Once you are done, tap create group, which will then pin it to the Groups tab. You can add as many as you want.

To be able to create a shortcut on your homescreen, tap on the small menu icon on the individual group. Select Create shortcut (here you can also unpin group, open chat heads or mute notifications).

© AndroidPIT

You will then see that the shortcut icon with the image you chose is now on your homescreen. Long press on it to drag it where you would like to place it. Tapping on the group will open the chat window and just like normal chat heads, you can maximize and minimize the chat head, move it around the screen and drag it to the ‘x’ when you are done.

What do you think of this new feature?

How to add a WhatsApp widget to your lock screen

WhatsApp has rightfully replaced traditional text messaging for most smartphone owners these days, and having quick access to your messages is just as essential. With a couple of easy steps you can add a WhatsApp widget to your Android's lock screen so that you don't even need to unlock your phone to see what's up in WhatsApp.

Accessing WhatsApp without unlocking your phone is a great time saver. / © AndroidPIT

One simple thing to do on any device is go into WhatsApp's Settings > Notifications and enable popup notifications. You can have popups for an illuminated screen (when you're using your phone) but also for a switched off screen. If you go for this option a new message notification will popup once even if the screen is off but remain on your lock screen the next time you go to unlock your phone.

The simplest WhatsApp ''widget'' comes from within the app itself! / © AndroidPIT

Stock Android

If your device is running stock Android, or a custom ROM that supports lockscreen widgets, you can quickly and easily add custom widgets, including WhatsApp, to your lock screen. Just go into Settings > Lock screen and tick the box for Custom Widgets. Then, lock your device's screen and from the lock screen swipe to the side until you see the + symbol. Tap that and select WhatsApp (or any other app for that mattecr) from the list. If you unlock your device from the lock screen with the WhatsApp widget installed, the next time you unlock your lock screen the WhatsApp widget will appear as the ''default''. You can also unlock from a different lock screen to have another widget be the one you see when you unlock. Older versions of Android do not support lock screen widgets.

KitKat allows you to conveniently set up your own lock screen widgets including WhatsApp, which can be expanded to full screen. / © AndroidPIT

Galaxy devices

Like all OEM skins, Samsung uses a slightly different menu setup but customizing your lock screen widgets is just as easy. Galaxy devices running newer versions of Android give you the ability to set up lock screen widgets just like stock Android, but you can also add a WhatsApp shortcut to your lock screen if you prefer that. Just go to Settings > Lock screen > Lock screen options and turn on Shortcuts switch, then tap where it says Shortcuts and choose WhatsApp from the list.

Lock screen WhatsApp shortcut on a S3 running Android 4.1.2 (left) and Dynamic Notifications acn also be used to show WhatsApp message previews as well as a lockscreen alternative. (right) / © AndroidPIT

Having problems?

If you're having issues getting the WhatsApp widget using the method described above, you may have a version of Android that doesn't support lock screen widgets – anything below Android 4.2. If you want a different lock screen widget specifically, you can just install an app like NiLS or WidgetLocker which are nice lock screen widget managers. You'll probably have to remove the default clock widget first though. Keep in mind that on Samsung devices running KitKat you can't just remove the clock widget as it seems as though Samsung is trying to take over that area with its own custom lock screen cards for weather, social, email etc.

NiLS is a great lock screen widget manager for Android 4.2 and above. / © NiLS

If you're using a widget manager like NiLS, you'll need to know that Samsung tends to push notifications through it's default widget so you'll have to use a different SMS app to bypass that whole mess. Some apps, like Sliding Messaging, work well with NiLS and allow you additional lock screen widget buttons like Reply and Read. Many of you will also know that I’m a big fan of Dynamic Notifications, the notifications app scraped from the Moto X. If you have an AMOLED displayed Samsung device, this is a great battery saving and notification tool that you can also use to quickly access new WhatsApp messages before you get to your lock screen. It can also be used as a lock screen replacement in the premium version.

NiLS Notifications Lock ScreenINSTALL

DynamicNotificationsINSTALL

Final reminder

Keep in mind that enabling lock screen widgets makes potentially sensitive information visible from a locked device, so either manage which apps are accessible from the lock screen through judicious selection of widgets, or if you're using a widget manager, only show notifications from apps you don't mind being ''public''. While the convenience of not having to unlock your device to read WhatsApp messages sounds tempting, there is also the issue of those messages being freely accessible by anyone who picks up your phone.

Do you use lock screen widgets? Are you at all concerned about the privacy issue?

Is your Android device laggy? Here’s how to fix it!

It happens to everyone, no matter what kind of make or model of device you own: as time wears on, your device starts to slow down and lag. It may be because you’ve downloaded power hungry apps or it may be because your cache has filled up to the brim. Regardless, it’s annoying and while sometimes a quick reboot will temporarily solve the issue, we’re delving a little bit further into some of the mains causes and solutions to these issues.

Want to figure out how to identify issues that are slowing down your device? Check it out! / © Ranksol

Clogged Memory

When you start to reach the limit on the SD card on your device, should you have one, you’ll notice that your device starts to slow down. If you’re showing signs of lag on your device and you’re using at least 80% of your storage capacity on your SD card, it might be time to go through your storage and do some cleansing.

© AndroidPIT

With SD Cleaner, or a similar app,  it’ll log all the unnecessary files on your SD card that you can trash without any complications, mostly cached files and other miscellaneous files that will help clear up some space. However, always be careful when you’re deleting files and make sure you’re not deleting something important.

SD CleanerINSTALL

Hibernate Apps

When you’ve got a ton of apps that are running in the background, it can slow down your device and cause performance issues. Of course, you can always go into your apps and pick and choose which ones you want to Force Close or shut them down, but this is cumbersome and something you’ll have to keep doing each time you fire up a power hungry app.

© Greenify

Thankfully, as long as your Android is rooted, you can use Greenify to help streamline the process. What it does classifies problem apps by sticking them into hibernation so that they can’t tie up any of the phones resources. This stops anything highlighted, including reminders, alarms, push notifications, etc.  Plus, hibernated apps can be “woken up” and used regularly when you tap on the app to initiate it.

GreenifyINSTALL

Kill those power hungry Apps

A good way of figuring out what’s slowing down your device is determining which apps are pulling most of your devices resources. This is particularly important to find out prior to using Greenify as listed above.

© AndroidPIT

There are a few easy ways to figure out what apps are taking up what resources, but one of the easiest is using WakeLock Detector. One you have this app, it’ll start logging statistics about the apps that are currently running. From there, you can see which apps are draining your battery that fastest and then figure out whether you want to keep them, shut them down, or Greenify them.

Wakelock Detector-Save BatteryINSTALL

Clear the cache

Yeah, it seems super simple, but sometimes we forget that apps start to cache more and more data as time goes on. Thankfully, you can go through and delete the cache yourself manually by heading to Settings > Apps and selecting a particular app and then hitting the Clear Cache button. However, if you’ve got an abundance of apps, this will soon become really cumbersome and time consuming.

© AndroidPIT

If you’re looking for a quicker method, you can grab an app like App Cache Cleaner, which will do all the work for you with a few taps on your device. It’ll list all the apps that currently have cached data stored on your device and then you can pick and choose which ones you want to clear, or do it all in one fell swoop.